Split-foot hosiery and method of making same



April 21, 1931. J, LAWSON ET AL 1,801,279

SPLIT FOOT HOSIERY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 18, i926 I nve 77/2 0 2 5 fizonlja/wso n, 120567 511 Lawso n,

Patented Apr. 21, 1931 UNITED s'm'ras PATENT OFFICE JOHN LAWSON AND ROBERT E. LAWSON, OF PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOBS TO HEMZPHILL COMPANY, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS SPLIT-r001 HOSIERY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAIE Applibation filed December 18, 1928. Serial No. 155,655.

This invention'relates to split work hosiery and to the method of making the same.

In order that the principle of the invention may be readily understood, a single embodimentthereof is disclosed in the accompanying drawing, wh erein- 1 is a side elevation of a stocking constructed in accordance with this invention; and a I 19 i Fig. 2 is a detail, greatly enlarged, showing one type of suture seam that may be em loyed in the practice of the invention. plit work hosiery has long been manufactured, but so fares we are aware, when 15 the split work extends throughout the foot or inthe ankle portion, it meets the inner corners or angles of the heel .pocket. Prior to this invention it had not been appreciated, so far :aswe are aware, that the immediate proximity or actual contact of the inner corners of the heel and the suture seams tended to weaken the stocking, or to cause a break at or closely adjacent to the point of contact of said suture seams at the said inner point oi the heel upon each side of the stocking.

v. After much experimentation it has been discovered that the tendency of split work hosiery to'rbreak at one of the inner corners of the heel is due to the immediate proximity or contact of said heel poinits and the suture seams, and we have de ised mechanism whereby the stocking may be constructed to avoid this defect. Such mechanism and that portion of the process more properly claimab'le therewith are made the subject of a separate application, Ser. No. 288,856, filed June 28, 1928. In this application there is disclosed and claimed the novel hosiery or fabric as well as broadly the method of making the same.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Fig. 1 represents a hose or stocking at 1. It is to be understood that the stocking may be of the usual length for women, or it may be a hose adapted for mens wear. The invention is in no wise restricted to either type of hosiery. The leg portion of the stocking indicated :at '2 is knitted by round and round work upon any suitable type of machine,

50 such, forexample, as a Banner machine hav i spring beard or latch needles. At a suitable point in the leg, as, for example, at the point 3, split work is commenced, as preferably the entire stocking, excepting possibly the rib top, is knitted upon the same machine. The machine employed is preferably lone having a main feed and an auxiliary feed, the main feed only being in action during round and round knitting; that is, until the point '3 is reached. At such point 3 the auxiliary feed is thrown into action and the motion is changed from circular to reciprocating, whereb the point or instep portion 4 of the ankle is knitted upon one set of needles and the rear part 5 of the ankle is knitted upon the other set of needles. As-

suming that the machine has 240 needles, and that of these needles, 120 are long butt needles and 120 are short butt needles, we provide jacks under all of the needles but under a certain number of the short hutt needles at each end of the short butt series, we

rovide special butts which are acted upon y a speclal cam, so that in efiect the chosen number of short butt needles at each end of the short butt series act with the long butt needles. While within the scope of our invention, we may thus act specially upon any desired number of the short butt needles at both ends of the short butt series, we preferably cause three of the short butt needles at each end of the short butt series to be so acted upon specially; The results is that the suture seam. 6 is removed three wales from the inner point 7 of the heel at each side of the stocking. That is to say, the rear portion 5 of the ankle includes not only the 120 heel needles but also six of the short butt needles with the result that the points 7 of the heel are removed by three wales from the suture seams'6. When the course indicated by the line 8 is reached, the 114 short butt,

needles are rendered inactive, the knitting of the portion 4 having continued up to the time the course indicated at 8 is reached. While the knitting is temporarily suspended upon the 114 short butt needles, the heel segments 9 and 10 are knitted in the usual manner by narrowing and widening, and as soon as-the heel is completed, the said 114 short butt needles are restored to action and the knitting of the foot is proceeded with to. make the upper half of the foot 11 and thelower half of the foot 12 by split work. The toe 13 is knitted in customary manner by narrowing and widening, and the stocking is afterward seamed up to make the toe seam 14;.

In making the suture seams 6, each of which extends from its commencement which may be a point in proximity to the points 7 of the heel (but removed laterally by a definite number of wales therefrom, as hereinafter stated) to the toe, it will be understood that two threads are fed from preferably diametrically opposed points in the machine, the needle cylinder being reciprocated, through within the steps of the invention the needle carrier may remain stationary and the knitting cams may be reciprocated.

.Our invention is not restricted to the use of any particular suture seam, as we may employ any suitable suture seam whereby the mam thread and the auxiliary thread are intrengaged along the extent of the suture seam, In Fig. 2, we have illustrated upon an enlarged scale one character of suture seam that may be employed, but without in any way limitin our invention thereto. In said figure, the t read wherefrom the instep portion 4 and the top portions 11 of the foot are knitted is indicated at 15, and the thread by which the rear portion 5 of the ankle and the sole 12 of the foot are knitted is indicated at 16. In Fig. 2, it will be observed that the suture seam 6 is composed of loops and parts of loops of the two threads 15, 16 interknitted as illustrated. f

A hose or stocking knitted in accordance with our invention is of increased strength at the points of the heel, since the definite separation -of the two suture seams from the points 7 of the heel prevents the breaking that was customary in split work hosiery heretofore made, wherein the rear portion of the ankle and the sole of the foot was made upon the Ion butt or heelneedles only, and all the short utt needles were used for knit ping the front of the ankle and the top of the oot. 5

Having thus described one illustrative embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that although specific terms are em ployed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims,

1. Split work hosiery having a seamed; heel portion, and wherein the split work suture seams are spaced b the inner points of t e seamed heel ocket.

2. Split work hosiery wherein t e leg portion is composed of courses of continuous or round and round @itting and the front and rear portions of the anMe are formed by reone or more wales'from v eone-re ciprocatin knitting with suture seams uniting said ent and rear portions, the heel having narrowed-and widened segments, the inner points whereof are spaced from said suture seams. v

3. Split work hosiery whereof the leg is composed of courses of round and round or seamless knitting and the ankle and foot are composed of split work united in suture seams spaced from the inner corners of the narrowed and widened heel pockets,

4. Split work hosiery having a seamless leg and split work ankle and narrowed and widened heel pockets, each suture seam of the split work being spaced substantially three wales from pocket.

5. That method of making split work hosiery comprising knitting the leg by round and round or seamless knitting, knitting the front and rear portions of the ankle by reciprocating knitting, using two distinct threads fed at spaced points whereby said front and rear portions are united into a suture seam, and knitting a heel pocket by narrowing and widening, and so apportioning the entire circle of needles to the two threads that the suture seams are thereby spaced one or more wales from the inner corners of the heel pockets.

6. That method of making split work hosiery comprising knitting the leg by round and round or seamless knitting, knitting the front and rear portionsof the ankle by reciprocating knitting, using two distinct threads fed at spaced points whereby said front and rear portions are united into a suture seam,the thread for the rear portion being supplied to the long butt or heel needles and also to a small plurality of short butt needles at each end of the short butt series, and the other thread being supplied to the remaining short the adjacent corner of the heel butt needles, and knitting the heel pocket by narrowing and widening, whereby both suture seams are removed the distance of said small plurality of needles from said suture seam. Y

7 S lit work, seamless hosiery wherein the an 1e portion and the foot are of split work and the leg is of round and round or seamless work, the heel being narrowed and widened and havin suture seamsiunitin g the narrowed and, widened portions, the inner ends of said heel suture seams being spaced by a small plurality of wales from the suture seams of the split work, whereby the weakeningof the stocking, because of the immediate proximity of the heel suture seams and the split-work suture seams, is prevented.

8. A seamless stocking or hose, the leg whereof is formed b round and round knitting, the heel being 'ormed by narrowed and widened parts united by heel suture seams extending to the inner corners of the heel pocket, the ankle of the hose or stocking, as

far as the inner points of the heel, .being formed of split work having opposite suture seams, said suture seams being spaced from the inner ends of the heel suture seams by 5 substantially three wales, whereby the weakening of the stocking incident to the immediate proximity or actual contact of the heel suture seams and the split-work suture seams is prevented. m 9. That method of making split work I hosiery comprising knitting the leg by round and round or seamless knitting, knitting the front and rear portions of the ankle by reciprocating knitting, using two wholly distinct 5 threads fed at spaced points, whereby said front and rear portions are united by two opposite split-work suture seams, knitting a heel pocket by narrowing and widening and connecting the narrowed and widened por- 20 tion by two heel suture seams terminating at small plurality of number of wales from the split-work suture seams, and thereafter knitting the foot and toe.

10. Split work, seamless hosiery wherein at the ankle portion and the foot are of split work and the leg is of round and round work, the heel being narrowed and widened and having suture seams uniting the narrowed and widened portions, the inner ends of said to heel suture seams being spaced by a small plurality of wales from the suture seams of the split work, whereby the weakening of the stocking, because of the immediate proximity of the heel suture seams and the splitwork suture seams, is prevented.

11. A split seam or sutured stocking comprising a high splice portion, a seamed heel portion, a sole portion, an instep and a body portion, the high splice, heel and sole porac tions being joined to the instep portion by a suture seam, a part of the high splice portion extending one or more wales into the instep away from the heel seam a plurality of courses above the highest course of the heel la portion and a part of the sole portion extending'one or more wales into the instep to the same extent as the said part of the high splice portion for a plurality ot' courses or the foot structure, whereby the terminus of the heel 5t seam is spaced from the split seam suture.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

JOHN LAWSON.

LAWS ON. 

